New York futures continued to slide last week closing Friday at $81.01 for the fifth weekly loss. London oil traded quietly around $86 a barrel to finish out the week at $86.13, also down for the fifth consecutive week. There has been no change in the markets’ perception that there is still too much oil chasing too little demand. The only foreseeable change in the situation will come at the November 27th OPEC meeting when we will know whether the Saudis and other Gulf Arab states will cut their production in an effort to raise prices. The other major exporters, particularly Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, are in near desperate need of all the oil revenue they can get and are unlikely to cut anything.
There was a rebound in the markets at mid-week when it was reported that Saudi sales in September were 328,000 b/d lower than in August, but the rally died when it was further reported that Saudi production had increased by 100,000 b/d last month with the rest of the oil going into storage. The weekly US stocks report showed the crude inventory increased by 7 million barrels the week before last. The stockpile at Cushing, Okla. was up a bit to 20.6 million barrels which about what is necessary for a smooth flow of futures market deliveries.
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